Elie Wiesel Changes In Night

Throughout Elie Wiesel’s Night, his character changes. These changes were in response to his hostile environment. Wiesel was forced to adapt, causing him to lose his identity and his religion. Wiesel’s character was introduced as a devout follower of Judaism. He sought out opportunities to grow and strengthen his faith. His family encouraged him to maintain a religious education. He went far past expectations into the study, even defying his father in order to do so. When asked why he prayed, he responded, “Why do I pray? Strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe? (4)” Questioning his religion seemed impossible to him. His rhetorical questions showcase the fact that he valued his faith as much as he valued his life. To lose his religion was to lose himself. As the memoir progressed, he eventually lost both. Wiesel’s faith deteriorated, causing him to lose one of the few remaining connections he still had with those around him. The memoir states, “My eyes had opened and I was alone, terribly

He was a person, with beliefs and stories and a family. Yet the camps slowly took it all away from him. He used to be Eliezer Wiesel. The Nazis forced him to become A-7713, taking away his name, background, and individuality in the process. They continuously carved out pieces of him until there was nothing left but a warm body - remnants of what used to be a person. When Wiesel said, “One day when I was able to get up, I decided to look at myself in the mirror on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me. (115)” it revealed how little there was left of him after the camps. The (metaphor)? represented exactly how Wiesel saw himself, or rather, what he did not see. He did not see a person. He did not see his family. He did not see a Jew. He saw what the camps had left him with after taking away everything that had mattered to